democracy after the revolution. under water a month now after hurricane sandy. tonight, our first look at what our new coastline may look like. and great expectations for holiday shopping on the web and in stores, tonight we go behind the scenes to show you what it takes to get so many of those packages where they're going on time. nightly news begins now. good evening, as america shakes off that post-thanksgiving feeling and gets back down to the business of life with another big holiday season approaching, there is a big story looming on the economy. and before this is over it is going to affect every american who pays taxes, has a mortgage or -- has to manage their own money, and that is every american. tonight, while shopping is a big story, along with the surprising amount americans are spending

the bigger story is the fact that some very tough choices are coming, and it is the folks in washington who are going to decide for everyone. we have it all covered tonight, beginning with our chief white house correspondent, chuck todd, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, leaders in wall street and washington have been warning for weeks of a possibility of an economic downturn if they don't avert what we have been calling the fiscal cliff. and yet the consumers we have been talking about are not acting very worried. trying to capitalize on the strong holiday shopping season, the president warned that the economy will spiral downward if it is not addressed. >> i think it is a reason that retailers are so concerned. that congress has not yet extended the middle class tax cuts.

>> reporter: the report also estimates that consumer spending could drop by $200 billion by 2013. 31st, there will be a massive fiscal cliff, of large spending cuts and tax increases. >> reporter: the federal reserve chairman coined that term last spring, restoration of 2% in payroll taxes, expiration of unemployment benefits and $110 billion in automatic cuts, to programs like defense. the political sticking points? tax rates, most democrats want tax rates for those making $250,000 a year to go up. republicans want it to stay the same, but would limit the deductions and close loopholes. there is a disagreement on who should be considered wealthy warren buffet argues that the timeline for the rich should be raised from $250,000 to $500,000. >> we have been open to revenues closed to loop holes as long as it is the tax reform that broadens the base and lowers

rates. >> reporter: framing the debate, a no-new tax rate. many of the republicans signed for a group headed by the washington activist tax person, grover norquist. two prominent senate republicans indicated a willingness to break it over the weekend. but more importantly, will the house republicans feel the same way? >> i will tell you when i go to the constituents that reelected me, it is not about the pledge, but really about trying to solve problems. >> reporter: and brian, that is the problem here despite all the happy talk from senate republicans about the potential for compromising on taxes. the real action is between those house republicans elected by the more conservative group and the white house. we have a long way to go. chuck todd on the white house lawn for us, thank you, and with due respect, while washington is one thing, and we know how they act. if this happens it will affect american lives and households millions strong.

tonight, we asked sharon epperson to go over this with us, it would be about personal finance >> it certainly would be, brian, and we're talking about nearly every taxpayer that will be affected. the first place you will see it is on your federal tax rate going up for middle income americans. we're talking about $2,000 a year extra that you will pay. and as the tax rate goes up, whether you have a job or are living off your 401(k) or retirement money, you will see your percentages that you pay on that income significant. we'll also see an increase on the payroll tax, so somebody making say, $50,000 a year will see 20 extra a week that they will pay, or more than a thousand on the year. and here is the big one, the alternative minimum tax. about 27 million people will be hit with this for the very first time. and this is a separate calculation that goes along with the regular tax, and you pay the higher of the two. we're talking about $3700

average for the person hit on their amt, and the investments, long-term capital gains, dividends taxed at a higher rate. that is why so many people are looking to sell assets now before the end of the year. and you're also talking about spending cuts that could be affected. so people unemployed, people getting unemployment benefits, before that got 99 weeks from the federal government and the state now will just see 26 weeks. and then there is some perks that you love like your home interest deduction that may go away or be capped. and that may be something that the average homeowner could get now. with the $2,000 savings are so that may change. so there are a lot of things to consider with the fiscal cliff so the fiscal cliff will affect everybody. they're talking more about the gas tax, more money to fly, thank you, sharon. sure. and speaking of the economy and spending, a lot of spending is going on right now, in what

most agree is a tough economy. today was the day they called cyber monday because of the volume of on-line shopping. tonight we have a camera inside an amazon.com distribution center in phoenix, where workers are processing a mind-numb amount of processing a mind-numbing amount of orders, they expect to top the amount this year. cnbc's courtney reagan is topping the story for us. she is with us tonight from a legendary retailer, bloomingdales, in mid-town manhattan. >> reporter: good evening, cyber monday used to be a day when people who didn't have a home computer returned to the office to shop on line. well, times changed. the retailers offered deals last week and hope that cyber monday will give the shoppers yet another reason to spend. after a long and for some, chaos-filled thanksgiving day weekend, it is now the retailers

who are thankful, as the bargain hunting on turkey day is taking hold with the american consumer. overall, 139 million people either in stores or on line this weekend, up 6% from last year, they spent more, as well. averaging $423 per person, also up 6%. to keep the momentum going, the stores are offering special cyber monday deals, hoping to rack up more than a billion in sales. according to ibm, nearly a quarter of all people using their mobile phones this morning were using them to shop. >> i use my phone usually to search for best deals, so i'll scan it, and if i can find it cheaper somewhere else, i will do so. >> reporter: among the deals, laptops, televisions, computers and amazon. i'm diana alvear, in phoenix,

where they expect to receive more orders today than any other day this holiday season. by the time cyber monday ends, more than half a million items will ship out of this facility alone. cnbc's brian shactman is at land's end >> reporter: at land's end in wisconsin, cyber monday is an absolute monster, during one hour this morning, the websites had 24,000 orders, that is a record. this facility will ship about 160,000 packages today, more than 180,000 tomorrow. with 33 days between now and christmas, including an extra weekend to shop, retailers will have to work hard to keep shoppers excited >> they are not as urgent, the consumer, but there is a lot more opportunity for the retailers to score sales. >> reporter: ibm says on-line sales are up 27% compared to last year on this cyber monday. and the day is not over yet.

last year there were ten days where on-line sales went past a billion. we expect to see more than 13 billion on-line days this year. >> courtney reagan, thank you, in new york. let's switch our attention to overseas. it was less than a week ago you may recall the president of egypt, president morsy, was hailed as a hero for helping to broker that cease-fire between israel and hamas. well, days later he surprised just about everybody by awarding himself sweeping new powers back home in egypt. that triggered a wave of violence in the streets. it brought crowds and protesters back to the familiar confines of tahrir square. tonight, the president of egypt is embarking on a campaign of damage control. our report from nbc's ayman mohyeldin in cairo. >> reporter: a day of mourning across egypt, in cairo, thousands paid respects to a protester killed by police. and in alexandria, a funeral for the member of the muslim brotherhood, just fifteen years

old. both were victims of the riots that broke out after president morsy gave himself sweeping new powers. it ignited a wave of protests among them, and loyal supporters fighting in the streets. the muslim brotherhood were to blame, we elected them, thought they would lift us up, but they threw us to the ground. i will never vote for them again in my life, this woman says, many believe that morsy over-reached, and he moved quickly to oversee the damage, meeting tonight with egypt's judicial council, claiming tonight he would limit the scope of his powers. morsy supporters say he had to act to reign in egypt's powerful judges. >> every time we approached the shore of the transition, somebody would sink the boat. that somebody, thus far has been the court of egypt, and hosni mubarak led and politically managed courts. >> reporter: egypt's judges have been accused of stalling the transition to democracy, and

failing to convict anybody charged with corruption or killing protesters. but in the streets, people say morsy's power grab betrays their quest for democracy, something that the protesters in tahrir square vowed they would never let happen again. despite the tensions on the street there is optimism in the streets. behind me in tahrir square, they were setting up tents for the million-man march on tuesday, and they called off the protests to avoid any confrontations on the streets of cairo. >> ayman mohyeldin in cairo for us tonight, thank you. it has been a month tonight since the monster storm named sandy roared into the east coast. tonight is another cold, dark night for the folks living in the affected zone, where nothing is the way it was. for those wanting comparison to other storms we have had a lot of questions about this. consider this, sandy damaged

more dwellings in just new york state than all of katrina across the entire gulf region. and this got a lot of people's attention this weekend when it appeared in the new york times, the picture of the statue of liberty kind of what-if question a look at what the climate change and coastlines up and down the east coast will look like. our report from our chief environmental affairs correspondent, anne thompson. >> reporter: these are the images few ever expected to see. the train stations in new jersey hit by water from superstorm sandy. yet scientists say this type of destruction could become far more frequent because of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases warming the planet. >> we could see by the end of the century, storms as high as sandy, as much as once every 15 years or more often, because

storms surges will start from a higher sea level. >> reporter: how high? a recent study suggests we are in line for a five-foot sea level rise, given all the fossil fuels we have already burned. look at the projections for the gulf of mexico, that risk puts new orleans up five feet, spreading 25 feet along the coast, the ocean swallowing more shoreline in 100 years if nothing is done. this report from the world bank says it is not just sea level rises but heat waves, with temperatures in the summer rising almost 11 degrees here in the u.s., as well as the mediterranean, north africa and the middle east. now, all of this gives new urgency to the annual climate change conference opening today, looking at the goal of the global agreement to reduce greenhouse gases. >> there are already new coastlines here in the east. anne thompson, thank you for your reporting here tonight.

still, as we continue, what if it was your job to deliver on all the on-line orders placed today? after seeing tonight's story you may never look at your ups delivery person the same way ever again. and later, did we just hear the first real hint of impatience from prince charles? the surprising comments from the man next in line to the throne.

d all this internet commerce we have been talking about tonight's all the people buying things on amazon, all of those purchases need to be delivered, of course to people where they

live. that takes a lot of people, and those people need to know what they're doing. the biggest name in the business, ups, has a new way to train its army of delivery people, how it is done. tonight, nbc's kristen dahlgren has more on behind the scenes. >> reporter: ups will deliver some 300 packages a second. >> bam, bam, next stop. >> reporter: the carefully put together blitz of boxes that begin with boot camp. basic training, the way a new generation learns. hands-on. trainees are taught at every step, learning everything from driving to stacking packages. but one of the most important things they learn is that seconds count. >> seconds add up very quickly to hours. excellent, 17 and a quarter seconds. >> reporter: it is as real as they can make it. >> we fill them with blocks and

bricks to feel like new packages. >> reporter: and it is not easy as i found out on the slip and falls track. supposed to teach drivers how to work in ice sidewalks. >> small steps so you feel like you're in control. >> reporter: later, they learn multi-tasking efficiency, turning the key with one hand or the other. and most important, safety, ups works with schools like virginia tech to show drivers how to avoid stress on joints and reduce injuries. could you have learned all of this in a class by a book? >> oh, there is no way. >> it definitely costs more but the return on our investment has really been shown. >> reporter: it has worked so well, ups has two other facilities. and other companies use brown boot camp as a model. it is not for everyone, but that means the drivers who do make it through are more than ready for the holiday rush.

kristen dahlgren, nbc news, landover, maryland. it would be nice to have that harness in real life. and up next, americans are discovering just where power ball is now.

power ball has grown into an enormous pile of money. it has now rolled over 16 consecutive times without anybody winning it. the jackpot now stands at a record $425 million for wednesday's drawing. a whole lot of folks are buying in. it was quite a statement of support, say nothing of good cheer. two members of the indianapolis colts cheering squad shaved their heads as a show of support for the head coach chuck pagano, who is fighting leukemia, first, the players did it, then the cheerleaders, they went beyond the call of duty. >> as the time magazine website put it today, it is good to have the irish back

and notre dame will go to the national championship game against either the georgia bulldogs or the crimson tide of alabama, the first trip for the fighting irish in 24 years. and we're just now learning about a crazy cold war era plan to blow up the moon with a nuclear plan to impress the russians. the once-secret plan was code name project a-119. and the idea of taking out the moon would have gotten their attention. of course it would have taken out the moon and thus half the love songs ever written the astronomer, carl sagan, was a young graduate student back then who had the good sense to warn the federal government against it. and up next, the most famous heir to the throne waits for his turn with impatience.

rolling stones getting a lot of attention for their 50th anniversary concert in london last night. they now begin their tour. however, they are not the only prominent brits in the news. prince charles at age 64 has waited longer than any heir to the throne in british history. and in comments he made last

weekend, he is just now showing some impatience. our report from london and nbc's keir simmons. >> reporter: at an age when many retire, prince charles has not even started the job he was born to do. he has grown up in public. seen his oldest son marry, and watched his mother celebrate 60 years on the throne. he has played the waiting game to perfection, which is why the latest comments got so much attention. >> impatient, me? what a thing to suggest. i'll run out of time soon, if we're not careful. >> reporter: he was talking about a project to restore a stately home. but his words made headlines, regarding the wait to be king. over the years he has become more relaxed on being the prince of wales. speaking out on issues he cares about, like global warming. >> we'll soon suffer grim consequences.

>> reporter: but he knows the clock is ticking, and as he told brian recently, there is not much you can do about it. >> it is all in the providence, of god, isn't it, really? i don't know, i may drop dead long before then. >> reporter: but for charles to become king, his mother would have to die or step down. and at eighty-six, she shows no sign of doing either. just today visiting the british troops. she will not leave public office until the last day of her life, believing it is her duty to serve. and if she lives as long as her mum, 101, then charles won't take the throne until the year he turns seventy-nine, that may be enough to try anyone's patience. london. that is it for us as we

coming up, the alarming new report on traffic related deaths over the holiday weekend. and a big change in the weather. details of a major storm heading to the bay area. nbc bay area news starts now. >> good evening. thanks for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and a fatal traffic crash. here's a look at the traffic map. this is on southbound 85. the left lanes are now blocked because of the deadly crash. heavy delays in the area. no word soft when the left lanes will reopen. this is southbound 85 in mountain view near 237. we'll have more information as it becomes available. it's considered one of the toughest jobs in the bay area.